– The former minister calls President Buhari’s economic policies archaic
– This makes corruption, state of the poor Nigerians even worse
– Buhari, his administration should reconsider the approach, Ezekwesili insists
Nigeria’s former education minister, Oby Ezekwesili, has called President Muhammadu Buhari’s approach to the economic policies “archaic” and “opaque”, Premium Times reports. Ezekwesili, who is also a social critic, is sure that such principles make the corruption even worse in the country.
The BBOG group leader said Buhari’s economic policies are similar to the ones he adopted in the 1980s during his military rule.
Ezekwesili was quoted as saying at the even held in Abuja:
“During the first coming of this our new president, a command and control economic system was adopted. During that era, inflation spiralled. During that era, jobs were lost. During that era, the economic growth level dipped.
“That era wasn’t the best of eras in economic progress. What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated…
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“In over one year, the president is still holding to the premise that command and control is the only way out. In a year we have lost the single digits inflation status we maintained in past administrations.”
The ex-minister lamented that Buhari’s intentions and the outcome of his actions did not converge:
“The president comes into this economic philosophy on the premise that he does not want the poor to suffer. I can relate to that, a leader must, especially a leader who knows that most of his votes came not from the elite but from the poor.
“The problem though is that the intention and the outcome are diverged. The weakest and the most vulnerable suffer the impact of inflation the most. Enormous power is being abused as a result of opaque economic policies.
“Companies are suddenly finding themselves unable to produce because they’re unable to access foreign exchange.”
Ezekwesili concluded it was time for the Nigerian leader and his administration to reconsider the policies, as the current economic evidence “speaks loudly”.
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